As You Fell Comments
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The spirit that dwells in our soul-
not the mean spirit,
or the poor spirit,
...
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Wonderful poem Susan! God must have stretched His hands to hold all the spirits that jumped off the tower.
Even in this dark tragedy, there is warmth in your words. The warmth of the spirits! . It is only the body that dies. The souls are immortal.
A poignant poem that chills and warms your heart at the same time. The twin tower episode of the horrendous 9/11 tragedy can never be forgotten.
Robert- -those images will never go away- they hurt as much now as they did then- -may the earth not see this kind of thing again
we did not know you blameless victim of strangers' hate but we wrapped you up in the warmth of our love for you and we held you deep inside the longing of that luminous spirit within us it was all we could do A great ode to the tragic event. Thanks you are into and through it so deep. Loved every word you put here. 10++++
Hey friend Subhas! ! I am haunted by that day and the chilling sight of my brothers and sisters jumping to their death rather than being burned to death. Thank you for seeing merit in my writing
we felt such an intense love for mankind as it plummeted from the tower one September day.... ... as you plummeted from the tower floor by floor by ...... - Such a heartfelt words! Sorrowful but very movingly good.
Feipeng, thank you for reading. There are moments in our lives that stand out there forever etching themselves against the blue skies of our lives, forever casting the shadow of man's horrid cruelty and capacity for cruelty across the rest of our lives. We must find a way for love to be stronger than hatred.
A heartwarming piece. Throughout its reading my thoughts were going back to nine eleven. You have so eloquently brought back the emotions that have screamed to come out from all of us. Thanks for sharing Susan.
Unfortunately every generation and so many countries have their own Pearl Harbor or 9/11. We must find a better way to deal with our differences than this. We are, after all, supposed to be the most intelligent species on earth. Thank you for reading and feeling and commenting Savita.
Deep, tender and the truth unleased as the man fell that day our spirit in our souls moved with such warmth and care for the strangers falling from the Twin Towers falling into our hearts and souls to protect and care for these strangers that became our family as love poured from our eyes for the innocent paople caught up by the act of grotesque evilness! Awesome write Susan!
Awesome comment, Hazel! ! ! You definitely have writing skills! ! ! And a huge heart! ! ! Thank you very much for reading and commenting and making my day.
It is a great tribute to those innocent persons who were the victim of the terrible tregedy 9/11. You have painted this inhumanity picture touchingly with an empathetical paint. It may be quoted... oh how we wanted you to know that you were loved loved far more than the hatred of little men loved you with the intensity of a sister loved you with the yearning burning of an orphaned child loved you with the hallowed pain of a Mother loved you dear falling man and oh how we longed for your heart to be at ease Eloquently and depthly crafted. Thanks for sharing.
I am truly blessed by all you PoemHunters and your hearts that are so ready to like others' work and encouraging others. Thank you!
With sadness I read your poem remembering the shock and disbelief that humans would be so consumed with their anger, hate and vendetta to harm innocent people. Our hearts leapt out to those people falling from the tower and we will never forget them. Thank you for writing a beautiful heartfelt tribute to those terrified people who suffered on that awful day.
Some things must not be forgotten - some things are just so heinous that it would be dishonor not to remember them. Mankind somehow must find a way to shame these acts out of existence.
Dear Susan Williams Your poem need intense reading.It is a gem. I will come back to read it again.
Thank you- -I think it shows respect to want to read a poem when I have more time to think about it, or I'm in a better mood, or I have taken a nap so my brain cells are a little livelier. You're such a gem yourself!
A very profound write in your captivating style. Creates a lasting picture in reader's mind. That moment of fall....when your whole life flashes in front of you. Simply outstanding. Great depth. A super 10.
Thank you for reading this, Nosheen. I think these images will stay forever in our heart. Thank you for the 10 my dear friend.
You Have Such A Beautiful Soul Susan! ! ! ! ! May God Always Hold You! ! ! ! ! May God Always Hold ALL! ! ! ! ! ! Always! ! ! ! ! Thank You Ever So Much For Sharing This! ! ! ! ! Ever Ever So Heart Felt! ! ! ! ! Beyond Ratings! ! ! ! ! ++++++++.............................
Thank you for your love of literature and your love of people and your love of life. You always make me smile when I see your enthusiastic! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Wow Susan this is epic and a wonderful tribute to the fallen men and women, in your words of the warm spirit of memories feels like a warm comfort blanket wrapped around them and us to keep us remembering with care and hopfully send comfort to the fallen. and their familes. great write. Annette.
Ah, you did well to remind us to remember to comfort their families. They have had 15 years of remembering their loved ones and the horror of their deaths. There are things in life that I do not know how they are endured and I am in awe of those who do. Thank you, Annette, for reading and commenting on this. Your take on this and other poems gives me valuable feedback not only on the basics of writing but also on the humanity of writing.
What an intense and comprehensive poem. I remember those people who jumped from the burning towers. their lives were cut short by a heinous event, they could not reverse that success of violence and hate and save themselves, but they could choose how they died, and chose falling over burning - Oh, the misery of that choice, but also the courage of it! Your poem puts such a death in a much larger context of the human(e) life in the long opening and then you expand and extend description of the falling as if you wanted to transform falling into flight and save them by this miracle of language. You keep postponing your poem's ending with memories, unfulfilled hopes, details of the common good life the terrorists have stolen from them. In this poem you are not only the poet of remembrance and homage, you are their Angel of Mercy suffering with the victims, sharing their fate, mourning their loss.
I knew your comment on this would be incisive and poetic and so aware of the many nuances I tried for. It means so much to me when you read my work and comment on it because the quality of poetry that you write is the goal I would love to achieve some day. I think most of us were changed deep down in places of the heart we didn't know we had by the sights and sounds that day. We will not ever be the same but Lord help us to be better people in honor of those who died right in front of our eyes that day. You're right, the only choice they had that day was how they would die. Again, Daniel, thank you for sharing your perspectives on this poem and this event.
floor by floor falling, moment by moment going far... stop.. don't fall any more. emotions splashed against papers and force is felt
Your comment was very impactfull- - proving brevity has its own voice! Thank you for reading and commenting about the emotions the poem raised in you.
Wow. Sigh. So many feelings going through me when I read this. Your poem falls like the falling man. It intrigues me how you can take such a tragic event and see the light there. That's a talent and belies a special emotional intelligence. You must be a great BFF, Wife, mother, daughter, PH commentator (I know! :)) ..and all that to be able to write this so well. I've read several poems about 9/11 or against terrorist, etc. This poem speaks in a fresh voice. I so loved this. Thanks for sharing. Sigh.
Thank you, dear Pamela. I think 9/11 brings forth a multiple of reactions now just as it did then.9/11 wasn't really one day, it was day after day of 9/11. There was no 9/12 or 9/13 or 9/14 or 9/15 or 9/16- I don't know when I finally had a day when it wasn't 9/11. Probably a day in October. I think it was that way for many people.. That first day I was so shocked, so stunned that I could not feel hatred or anger. More I felt a mass confusion, a how can people do this to other people. The one emotion that pierced that shock was the grief. I think many people tried to hold those brave souls in their own souls, tried to reach out with their love and somehow touch them so they knew they were not alone. I hope there is something of value in this poem to help you and other readers deal with the trauma of this day... those days. Thank you for the very kind and supportive comments, Pamela, you always look at other writers on PH as whole people, not just would-be poets. You are such a blessing..
This is a wonderful poem. I have a warm memory of that awful day. There was an interview with a New York fireman, an ordinary regular guy. The subject of the programme was the song Danny Boy. He was talking about the firemen friends he had lost on that day and on how some of the Churches tried to ban the playing of that song at their funerals and about this opera singer who was helping out at the Firemen's base making and serving up soup for the lads. And how he suddenly took of his chef's hat and sang Danny Boy for them, returned and picked up his soup ladle and cried Well, who's next! I shall never forget the warmth that interview brought to me and the image and the feeling come back when I hear Danny Boy, which is one of my favourite songs. Your poem has added an extra warmth to remember. It's a great poem, Susan.
Thank you, Tom, for sharing that memory. It sure makes me wonder why some of the churches didn't want Danny Boy played... perhaps they thought it excluded nationalities... odd, Danny Boy is such a tender loving farewell that it seems to transcend nationalities. Sounds like I need to Google the topic. Anyway, I am proud of that opera singer for standing up for the right to grieve in whatever loving way we need- -especially the firemen who lost so many of their compatriots that day and since. And thank you for your appraisal of the poem, my friend..
This is an amazing poem, Susan. The visual imagery is stunning. I can see that trout on the hook. And then there's the philosophical content....the question about and over the unguarded spirit. It has the capacity to love and desire and to feel empathy. But are these qualities enough? Can the spirit prevent a fall? Or, is it enough that the spirit may, just may, be salve that appears in the moment of the fall? Reading the poem several times prompted a discovery. As I kept reading, I noticed I started reading faster and faster as I made it to the conclusion. That is an incredible effect, and certainly promoted by the word choice. Then there's also the appearance of the poem....I looked at the structure, and noticed that the words resemble a skyline (albeit turned on the side) . A great piece. Another major, serious 10.
Good question- my own personal opinion is that we cannot stop such tragedy with our will power or with the strength of our loving spirits. But maybe...just maybe... love can be felt in times of such extreme distress. I hoped so as those people fell... it would make me feel less fearful if I were falling but wrapped in the arms of so many loving spirits. Thank you for finding my attempts to make the poem mimic the falling and a times the velocity of it. I fiddled with the length of lines or their placement to aid that feeling of falling... dang, I wish I could claim the sky-line was crafted on purpose- that was sad to say accidental. But you gave me an idea, dear friend. Mayhap we will see a shape poem one of these days based on your idea. Thank you, Mark, for your encouraging analysis. You are a huge source of intelligent critique on this site. And thank you too for the serious 10 ;)
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8/2/2025 12:10:50 PM # 1.0.0
Top stars for this poem inspired by MJ Lemon's Heart